


Riverside (An autobiographical fanfiction)

by Naiades



Category: Supernatural, Supernatural Novels - Various
Genre: Mortycroft, No Smut, Original Character(s), Other, Sirens, Sorry Not Sorry, partners in crime, rhine - Freeform, sorry maybe next time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 23:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4764857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naiades/pseuds/Naiades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dedicated to the amazing Raafling, as a memory of our epicness.</p><p>Summary: Terra and Thyra are best friends in college and one day they encounter a Siren that messes up their lives.<br/>Based on a Tumblr prompt for a SPN spinoff with female college students and without the manpain ;-)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Riverside (An autobiographical fanfiction)

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to my lovely GiShwife, for being my Beta <3

_~ Down by the water, the riverbed,_  
somebody calls you, somebody says  
swim with the current and float away  
  
I see how everything is torn in the river deep  
And I can tell from your eyes,  
you’ve never been by the riverside ~  
  
Agnes Obel, Riverside

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Thyra fumbled with her keys as she tried to both hold onto the groceries and open the heavy door of the corridor. Stumbling inside she heard her phone give the cheerful tune of an incoming text message. She dumped the groceries in the kitchen, her bag in her room, took out her phone and walked into the common room. A soft smile came across her face when she saw the message, Jim of course. 

**Carpet picnic tonight? X J.M.**

**Of course! Mortycroft Mondays! We've done it at least thrice. It can be considered a tradition, my dearest. ~ M.H.**

It took about 20 seconds for the reply came.

 **Awesome! See you tonight then! JM**  
  
She didn’t even need to ask where, they were almost always at Jims house.  
  
**Ehm, ‘see you later’ I hope you mean.. We have practical at two remember?**  
  
**Wow! Oops! Seems like you got me in the nick of time! You know what that makes you?**  
  
**A person that does want to do all the set up of the experiment by herself because her lab partner is late again?**  
  
**A BIG DAMN HERO!  
**

**Seriously you should’ve gotten that one! X JM**

  
Tyra smiled at her phone. But this is so much more fun, she thought.  It was strange to think that they'd only known each other for a couple of months. Jim, or more commonly known as Terra, is in the same year as she is, but somehow for various reasons they only struck up a conversation halfway through their first year of college. A conversation consisting of books, series, the similarity of their names (although both uncommon), and it quickly resulted in dinners, watching series together and giving each other male nicknames because that was 'easier' to remember. (Based on Sherlock characters, to reflect their intellect, thank you very much!) Three weeks in and they were inseparable, talking in so many references that it was often misunderstood as a secret language and were lab partners for all the courses they took the rest of the year. The teachers got their names mixed up so many times that they just gave up and just called out something in the hope one of them responded. Come to think of it, her entire interaction with Terra was everything but ordinary. But so far amazing, so why bother thinking about it? They both just went along with and it worked perfectly.

  
“What’s so funny?” Philip, her roommate, asked from the doorpost.

  
“Oh you know, just J.., Terra. Nothing special. ” She quickly replied, not wanting to add to the bad atmosphere that hung around them lately, especially when it regarded Terra.    
  
Humpf.  “Are you here tonight for dinner? Everyone else will be here too. I'm cooking pasta.” He said, referring to the three other biology students that lived on the corridor, the other members of their happy family.

  
“Oh! No, sorry I already made other plans... “ She decided it was better not to tell with whom.  
  
  “Ok, no worries.” He replied with a smile that was not at all convincing.     
  
“But I am getting late for my practical,” she said, standing up from the couch. Philip, still in the doorway looked at her expectantly.  
  
“If you could move?” She looked at him.    
  
“My, if that’s what you wish, my lady,” he saluted and bowed before letting her pass.  
  
 “Jerk.” She smiled as she stumped him slightly on his arm and walked to her room to get her bag.  
  “See you later!” she waved as she walked out of the door, just in time to see Philip staring after her. 

   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

 “You know, I just don’t get it.” Thyra sighed as she stuffed another piece of brownie in her mouth, the result of her latest procrastinating tendencies.  
“He’s suddenly acting all weird, and he was so rude to you last week, it wasn’t even funny, just really rude.” She complained to her friend.   They were sitting in Terra’s room that night, feet up on her couch, eating dessert, the remaining’s of their ‘picnic’ scattered all over the floor.   

“Maybe he’s jealous?” Terra said.

  “Jealous? Of what? Of us?” Thyra frowned. “Why? I’m friends with him too. We do stuff all the time. I mean, when he isn’t acting like a _dick._ ”   She was still angry at what happened the week before. Terra had come over at her place, so they could have dinner together with her roommates. Everything started out really nice; they had cooked together laughing in the kitchen, then Phillip had come home. Instead of staying in his room before dinner was ready, he had joined them in the kitchen listening to the conversation they were having. Well conversation, more like playful banter as usual. This week’s subject: the John/Sherlock dynamic. Thyra mentioned that Sherlock was clear in the fact that he didn’t want a relationship, so why couldn’t they be friends whilst living together? Terra argued that it wouldn’t matter anyway, a major mainstream tv show would never allow for a friends gone gay lovers to be explicitly canon.  So yes, they didn’t actually disagree with each other, just a fun discussion. Philip had just stood there listening. Only, during dinner he had suddenly picked up the subject again, full on attacking Terra about it. Terra, always a bit shy and nervous about interacting with people she didn’t know well, had just gone silent, much to the glee of Philip, who was laughing at it with Peter victoriously. It all could have been really innocent mistake, if Thyra didn’t know better. They had not been at her house since.   

“No I meant, of me? Or yeah, of us I suppose?” her friend sighed. “What I mean is, maybe he doesn’t want to be _friends_ anymore?”

  “You’re not making any sense Jim.” Thyra said as she leaned back against the couch. “If he doesn’t want to be friends why does he keep asking…” Terra watched her friend with a raised eyebrow as the penny slowly dropped.

”Wait? You think he likes me? You know as well as I do it’s perfectly possible to form intersex friendships. I have many male friends.” She looked at her friend almost defensively, like she was the problem in the first place.  

“And you’re claiming that none of your previous friendships has resulted in a unrequited crush?”

  “Ok that’s a low blow, you know I still feel guilty about that.” She replied mumbling. “And still, why would he be jealous of us? We’re not dating.” She looked at the friend she had gotten closer to than anyone before in so little time.

  “You know, we kinda are dating” Terra winked. 

“I know, I love it.” Returning quotes was just instinct at this point.   “But platonically of course, bromance. We’re BRO-dating!” She smirked as Jim let out a growl of annoyance at the statement.

“Please don’t ever say that again. EVER.“ But she grinned back. “I don’t know Myc, that’s just the feeling I get. Besides the creeps.” 

 “Ok, ok I’ll keep it in mind I suppose.” Thyra rolled her eyes. “Drop not so subtle hints that I’m not interested in dating or something. Oh did I tell you Prof Duncan asked if I was interested in TA-ing next year?” She asked, changing the subject.

  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“So are you going to do it?” Jim asked a couple of days later as they were staring into the microscope, looking at various plant seeds.  

“Am I going to do what?” Thyra sighed frustrated. Plants are definitely NOT her thing.

  “You know, the TA thing.” Jim responded not looking up from her drawings.

  “Oh right. I’m not sure yet. It would be a bit weird wouldn’t it? Me being a second year and teaching first years. Besides I will have to take time from my own studies and stuff.” She took out the sample, reaching for the next one and put it under the microscope.

   _Myc._ Her friend looked up. “We both know that you’re not really a second year, you did two year veterinary medicine before this. Which means you probably have more knowledge about animal morphology and physiology than any of the third year TAs. Oh and wait it just happens to be the subject Prof Duncan teaches in!” Terra pointed her pencil in the air dramatically.  

Thyra rolled her eyes. “You can drop the pencil, miss.” She laughs at Terra still waving the pencil in the air. “Point taken but that doesn’t mean I’ll be actually good at teaching.”

“Seriously? You don’t think you’ll be good at it? You are basically tutoring already, as often as you help others.” Jim stared at her with an open mouth. “Besides,” she quickly added, seeing she was going to protest, “it’s not like you have to grade papers or anything, it’s just practicals, you need knowledge about the subject more than any didactic skills, which you can learn, by the way.”

  “Mmmh, but I’m…”

“Thyra?” a short blonde girl approached them from one of the other tables. “I was wondering, could you maybe help me preparing for my genetics re exam? There are some things I don’t really get yet and Anne said you really helped her with it last term.”

“Oh hi Tess, of course! When do you have to take it? We can meet up during lunch sometime if you’d like?”

Tess grinned. “Don’t be stupid, I can at least offer you dinner if you help me! You go back to your peanut drawings! I’ll text?”  “Yeah, sure.” Thyra smiled and turned back to her friend. “Well anyway what I meant was…”

Terra gave her a pointed look.

“Ok, ok, you’re right! I’ll go talk to Prof Duncan after we’re done here.” Myc winked while turning back to her microscope. “Ugh. I will never be able to eat a peanut again in my LIFE.”  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After the practical Thyra walked through the hallway on the 8th floor towards Professor Duncans office, which was located in the far corner. She was suddenly excited to tell him that she wanted to start next year as TA. Jim had been right, of course, she did like it. Half of her family was in education, her father started last year teaching high school physics after being an engineer for most of his life. So she probably had the teaching gene. Maybe Terra could get her doctorate in that, she thought smiling. 'Discovering the teaching gene: a story of suffering living a life long with my friend the teacher' should make a good thesis title, she smiled to herself.

As she reached the office, the door was closed, which was strange. Prof Duncan was the 'my door is always open' kind of guy, and one that actually meant it.  She knocked, but heard nothing. Strange, it was almost lunch time but even then he was often in his office during lunch.   

“Professor Duncan?” She called as she opened the door walking into the small hallway that blocked the view of the rest of the office. As soon as she turned the corner, she saw the professor sitting in his chair. Only, he was not alone. On his desk sat a small blonde student, wearing a skirt and blouse not yet long enough to derail the sexy schoolgirl look. She was slightly bend over towards the professor, whispering something to him.

  “Oh! Erm, sorry.” Thyra stambled. “It's ok, I can come back later!”  The girl look up, wicked grin on her face.

“Did you have an appointment? Never mind, we were done here!” She winked at Thyra as she hopped of the desk.  
“Just think about it professor.” She said as she walked past Thyra and out of the door.

  “Erm, professor?” Thyra asked softly. She was a bit confused. Never would she have packed Prof Duncan to be kind of guy that would flirt with students. I mean, she had heard of it happening, but don’t these things only happen in movies? Or maybe in America, but definitely not at her university.  

“hhm. Oh yes, can I help you?” Prof Duncan looked up a bit slowly. It seemed like he did not really recognize her.

  “You know what, I can come back later, not a problem! It wasn't that important anyway.” Thyra said and she walked out of the office, sighing to herself. Well ok, that happened. Weiiirrd..  She took the elevator downstairs to the mensa where Terra would be waiting for her. She just had to tell her what happened. As soon as the elevator doors opened, she heard commotion coming from the ground floor. A large part of the building had an open design in the middle, so you could hear and see people walking on 7 floors. The commotion was clearly coming from the ground floor, and people were shouting and walking towards the north entrance.

  “What happened?” She heard some guy asking. 

“He jumped, someone jumped!” His friend called back.  

Thyra walked over to her friend, who was still sitting in the mensa at their usual table.  “Do you know what the commotion is about?” she asked  .

“Oh Myc! Someone jumped from the top floor! We saw his body falling in front of the windows.” Terra replied with a shocked face.  

“Do you know who it is? I didn't see anything, and I just came from the 8th. Well not anything actually, you'll never...” She wanted to continue.

  “It's Prof Duncan! He just jumped.” Lisa said as she walked to them. “Apparently someone heard him shouting something about proving his love? Not sure if that's true though, you know how-”

  “Prof Duncan? But you just..” Terra looked at Thyra, who's face had gone white.

  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

“You know, this reminds me of a book series that I started to read a couple of years ago.” Terra said a few days later, as they were in her room as usual. “Before it became all boring and full of _man-pain_.” She sighed.

After the commotion the police had arrived, shielding everyone from the body. Thyra had given a short statement, since she was the last person to have seen Prof Duncan alive. Well yes he had acted weird, but not suicidal weird, just distracted really. No she doesn't know who the girl is, she had never seen her before. Or after for that matter, although at one point she thought she had seen her standing in the crowd, smiling. Probably just an illusion, so she didn't mention it to the police.  Since it was a clear suicide, the investigation was over the same day it began. Life on the campus had slowly gone back to normal.  

“It was about these brothers that were hunters but for supernatural creatures. What were they called? Wen.., Winchesters I think.” Terra continued. 

“ _Winchester?”_ Thyra grinned. “What, like the brand of American rifles? Well, that’s _subtle_ … (not).”  “What?” Jim asked, lost in her thoughts.

 “Have you ever seen any western ever?!”

  “No” Her friend deadpanned. “Anyway, in one of the books the brothers encounter a siren, and it’s supposed to turn into what you desire, and it turns into a guy for the oldest brother, and they like try to spin it in a way like blahblah no he’s just looking for a friend, someone he can trust blah and it’s just bull you know”, Jim started to ramble, “I mean, it’s the biggest no homo-”  

“Wait, hold op”, Thyra Interrupted, “A siren? You mean the Greek mythological creature? Luring sailors in with their singing to kill them, that one? Like Lorely?”

  “Lorely?” Jim finally looked up. “I don’t know that one.”  

“Well, you wouldn't, it’s more local folklore, same principle though. Beautiful woman luring sailors onto a cliff with her singing, only she’s bound to a river, the Rhine to be exact. There’s a rock named after her somewhere upstream in Germany, probably the place where many ships used to crash I suppose.” Thyra explained.  

“Well, I can look it up the internet.” Terra offered. “The books weren’t that popular, but they have a strong hardcore fanbase online, maybe I can find something useful?” She had that 'I want to research things online right now' kind of twinkle in her eyes, something she had a _little_ too often.

 “Let me get this straight,” Thyra responded sweetly, “you want to look for information online, deep into the core of a crazy fanbase of _fictious_ books, whose main characters are named after a brand of rifles, in the hope you find something useful for this very real life series of events?”   

The sarcasm was strong if not deadly.  But as always, her friend just shrugged it off.   

“It can’t hurt, right? These crazy fans as you call them often link much more information and knowledge from the _real world_ than given by the books themselves, could be useful in fact. Besides, now I’m curious how all the man-pain ended,” she winked as she turned her chair around and opened up her internet browser.   

 _Yeah yeah_ , Thyra mumbled. “You go and play, I’ll go and prepare dinner.”   _Uhuh_ her friend said, completely not listening. She was already sitting behind her computer and had pulled up many somewhat disturbing looking sites.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

Thyra woke up the next morning way too early.

 'Myc' Terra nudged her “ _MYC wake up._ ”  Thyra groaned and tried to pull the covers over her head. It wasn't their first sleepover, yet she'll never get used to the fact of Terra being such a morning person. “go away, sleeeeep.”

“Myc you have to get up, I have morning classes.” Terra sighed.  

Right. Classes. College. Learning. Life itself. “But I don’t..” Thyra tried to say cheekily.

“Fine, I'll go shower and when I get back I expect you to be up missy.” Terra nudged her one last time as she slowly stepped over the mattress towards the door of her room.  The nice thing about her background in veterinary medicine was the fact that she could skip some of the courses that were mandatory for all biology students, taking higher level courses instead. And the nice thing about higher-level courses was that they did not have the insane level of hours the lower level courses had. Plus the other students in these courses were more of her age, which was also a bonus. Although Terra had mentioned once or twice it was weird going to classes without her. Well, once they'd start majoring it would happen eventually. Thyra was interested in medical biology, Terra more in genetic and molecular biology.

  “MYC WAKE UP.” Terra pulled the covers.   

“What, what happened?” Thyra grumbled startled. “Did I fall asleep?” 

“For a little while” Her friend winked. “Now it's time to get up. You have to go home and change anyway. Plus your books aren’t here, etc.”

Thyra sighed. So much for lazy sleep-ins. _Okay_ she mumbled and got dressed.  “Your stupid morning personality will be the death of me you know. And you don’t even have coffee!” she complained.

 “Well, I couldn't make it too perfect for you, could I?” Terra replied cheerfully.  

“New rule, no sass allowed in the morning!”  

They walked out the door together, greeting Terras's roommates on the way out. They were no longer surprised to see her there, although sometimes Thyra wondered if they thought they were a couple.  Once downstairs Thyra got her bike and walked towards Terra. Her house was closer to the university, so they could ride together for the first part. After 5 minutes. Thyra waved her friend goodbye and took a turn right towards her building. Smiling inwardly about the 'walk of shame' look she got from some of the other residents as they walked out. Well, college is meant for new experiences, she grinned to herself as she opened the door to her corridor.

Careful not to disturb her roommates, they were all older students that no longer had the intensive class schedule, she opened her room and quickly changed in a chill outfit. Her lecture was at 10:30 so she had enough time to change into 'appropriate' clothes before that. Like mentioned before, she is _not_ a morning person. Clothes are a part of that.   As soon she was changed, she walked into the kitchen, not really surprised to see her roommate Wendy there. The only other morning person she knew. Probably got up early to Skype with her boyfriend who in the states on an internship.  

“Morning!” Wendy greeted her cheerfully. “Didn't expect you up so early, but I think there is some coffee left in the pot.” she smiled knowingly.

  “Oh thank god” Thyra sighed as he poured herself some coffee. 

“So.. Interesting night?” her roommate asked with an odd tone in her voice.   Shit. She thought she had been silent when she walked through the door, but apparently not.  Not that she was actually ashamed or something. It's just that Joanna has a habit of making everything about sex. She would not care that Terra is a girl, but in no way she can understand that they are just good friends. Thyra sighed about the upcoming conversation. It was just too early for this.  

“Not really.” She replied. “Although you're right that it's too early to be up.”  

“Couldn't sleep, could you?” Wendy winked, she actually winked, what?

  “Look Wendy, I know what you are thinking, but it's not that.”

  “Well, Philip was awfully cheerful when he came back from the party last night... Actually woke me up with his drunken happy babbles.”

  “We're just good friends you kn- Wait, what? Philip, what about him?” Thyra asked.

  “Don’t be shy!” Wendy almost chirped, “It's about time you got together! You make a nice couple, and well Philip was a killjoy lately so..”  

“No, what are you on about, Wendy? Nothing happened between Philip and I.” she quickly interrupted on a soft tone, trying not to wake up the rest of the house. “I told you before, I'm not interested in Philip in that way. We're just friends.”  

“Whatever you say.” Wendy winked “I understand if you want to keep it low profile for a while...”

  “Seriously, there is something wrong with you.” she said a bit louder.   

“Don’t I we all know it!” Peter said as he walked into the kitchen.  “Didn't expect you up yet, Thyra, after such a wild night.”

  “What? Seriously what is going on?” She asked as she made another pot of coffee. She had a feeling she was going to need it. Badly.   “I know I just got back, but it's not what you guys think.” She sighed.   

“Well I understand it must feel like that after such a amorous evening, but...”  

“Ok what are you one about? You know me and.” Thyra started to say, but got interrupted.  

“You and Philip? Damn I thought he was in over his head until yesterday at the party... Quit the kiss I might add. The guy was in the 7th heaven after that. Never was it so hard to get him back home. In any stage of drunkenness I ever witnessed, I might add. Anyway you left before us, so you must have gotten more sleep.”

  “I wasn't at any party yesterday. Wait, did you say kiss? Why would I _KISS_ Philip?”  

“Well you do make a cute couple...” Wendy started.    
“You've been flirting for months now...” Peter added  .

“You're both crazy. I told you before that-” 

“Told them what?” It sounded from behind. _Shit_. Philip.  “Why are you up so early? Doesn’t your class start at 10.30?” He asked as he wrapped his arms around her.   

“Ieuw. What are you doing?!” She shrugged him off. “Seriously what is your problem?” She was almost shouting now.  
“Leave me alone!” and stormed back into her room, leaving her bewildered roommates behind.

Has everyone gone crazy overnight? She thought as she opened her laptop. She had still an hour left before she had to leave for class and was in no mood to face her roommates again.   As she opened her Facebook, she saw a dozen notifications and frowned. That's strange. Normally this would only happen when she'd post some of her cosplay pictures or on her birthday. Neither situation applied today. _Huh_ she got tagged in some pictures. She clicked on them and her face went white.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

This cant be happening. She paced through her room. It's impossible. She thought. What is going on?  

A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts “Thyra?” Wendy called from behind it. “Are you alright? You know, there is no shame in...”

And Thyra opened the door.   “I don’t know what is going on” she said. “But I need you to know that I am not interested in Philip!” She said a little bit too loudly, and she heard a door slam in the hallway. Great, now he's mad at me. At least I don’t have to face him for a while. “Look Wendy, I need to get ready for class, I'll see you later, ok?” She said politely and shut her door again.   

She looked at the pictures on her laptop. They were shot at some big student party last night, and they showed her and Philip kissing passionately on the dance floor.  She shook her head. What the hell is going on? Did someone photoshop them? No. Why would they? Plus, it would give a very short time frame for the photoshopping, too short.   She pulled out her phone and sent a text to Terra, knowing she was in class at the moment.    ****

**Hypothetically speaking, how large is the chance of me sneaking out last night, dress up, go to a party, and sneak back into your room again without you noticing or me remembering? MH**

She silently put her phone down in her lap, knowing fully well that it might be a while before Thyra responded, she had class after all. She just didn’t know what else to do.   Her phone bleeped only a few minutes after. Thank whomever for Terra's tendencies to get bored during break, playing with phone rather than chatting with other students.   ****

**Mmh. The effects of certain drugs or overload of alcohol aside, I'd highly doubt it that you'd be able to pull that off. I know you're groggy in the morning but it did not feel hangovery to me. Not that I would know ;-) JM**

and a few seconds later...

**Besides. You don’t have a key yet, remember? And mine were still in my bag this morning. So combining that level of sneakyness with the memory loss, I still highly doubt it.**

**Wait... are you a spy? You've been holding out on me, my dear Myc!  But seriously, for what do I owe this pleasure of a mental exercise? JM**

Thyra couldnt help but smiling. It was ridiculous how much Terra had a calming effect on her with her weirdness. Even per text message. But then the confusion came over her again. She couldn't have been at two places at once. And contrary to the person who she was nicknamed after, she might be smart but she's certainly not a highly leveled government official met spy related tendencies.  She thought about what to text back. The time that had passed had calmed her down a bit and she still had class in an hour.

   **Long story. Let's just say that I'm starting to believe that sirens might be real...**

That would be enough to get her friends attention. Break was probably over, but Terra still replied almost instantly, like she was waiting for the answer.

**Ooooh! Consider me intrigued! And a little scared... Tell me all about it after class, 1300 @ secret lair?**

Relieved at the thought of not dealing with this alone, Thyra packed her bag for the day and sneaked out of the door.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

“It really looks like she’s heading straight for Philip, doesn’t it?” Thyra said as they worked through the pictures on her laptop. They had pulled photos of last nights party from multiple sites and tried to order them based on relative time and angle. Although the siren comments had started as jokes, now neither of them was so sure. There had been too many strange things going on in this town. Right now it was either a siren or an evil twin and excluding Thyra's younger sister, the latter was even more improbable than the first. Epigenetics and all that.  

“Wait… would that mean I’m Philip’s ideal mate?” She realized with a face full horror.

  “Well, not to burst that perfect bubble of denial, sweetie, but I think it’s safe to say that that guy is head over heels in love with you.” Her friend responded calmly. “So I suppose… yes, at the moment you are.”

  “But. Look at her! She dresses completely different than I do. Granted, her hair looks nice. But the way she walks, all sexy… And I would _**NEVER**_ tongue wrestle in the middle of the dance floor!”

  “Well, it is supposed to be a sexual fantasy after all…” Terra said carefully.

  “What? Ahw gross. I’m gonna be sick.” Thyra said with a painful and disgusted face.

  “But at least now we have more information!” Terra walked to her computer and opened a folder filled with files. “She didn’t kill him. Yet. So that’s another parameter we can use to find the correct folklore!” She sounded way to enthusiastic.

  “I suppose…” Thyra responded, still looking disgusted at the picture of her(ish) and Philip exchanging saliva in the middle of a packed dancefloor.  Ugh.. And everyone will think it was me.. I will never live this down, damnit! She sighed, her stomach still twisting with annoyance and disgust.  _“Jim?”_ …  “Jim!”  _“_

 _Mmh_ what?” At least she looked up from the computer this time.  “I know it’s maybe a bit much two nights in a row… but do you think I can stay over again? I’m not in the mood to deal with this at home. At all.” Thyra had closed her laptop and was staring at her feet.

  “Well of course! Duh! How else are we gonna form a battle strategy?” (Again. Maybe a little bit too cheerful.) She smiled. “Everything is going to be fine, Myc, don’t worry. There are far worse scandals to be had in your college years. At least you know you didn’t do it… And you have to admit, even if it was a bit too sexy for your taste, her outfit was on point for the theme. And if we’re really talking about reputations…”

“Yeah yeah you’re right,” Thyra started laughing. “Dramaqueen inactivated, ok? And Jim?”   _Mmmh_? “Thank you.” She smiled. Terra, on the verge of making a smartass comment, just smiled back.

  “Hold up” Thyra said suddenly. “You really did research on sirens already?”  Looking at the computer where a bunch of documents were sorted based on time periods and place of origin.   “Maybe?” Terra tried to look innocent. “Well most of it I already found sorted online in that fanbase so…”  

“You’re crazy.”

  “And you love it?”

 “Maybe.” Thyra smiled.

  “Well, let's put our combined crazy genius to work and find out what the hell is going on, shall we?” Terra smiled back.

  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

 “Wait, didn’t you say something about hyacinths in that book of yours?” Thyra asked a few hours later. They were sitting on Terra's bed again; both had their laptops with several sites and articles pulled up. There had been a few weird deaths in the other villages around the river, but not one of them really stuck out enough to help them.

 “Yeah, something about it being a symbol for the siren or something, why?”   

“I just remembered! Hyacinths are Mediterranean flowers, but they used to be grouped with the lilies!” Thyra exclaimed.

  “Yes I think so, but not anymore, what are you getting at, Myc?”

“Remember last period, we had flora excursions? There were lily-like flowers near the old brick factory! Which is located at _the river_? What if this is a siren but a more endogenous one and thus it has an endogenous flower? It could be where its hideout is! It has moist dark holes and everything!” Thyra rambled with lots of hand gestures.

  “And you say I remember weird stuff.” Terra mumbled.  “Well I only remember cause they were near those poisonous plants I was looking for and the location was weird for lilies to grow. It confused our TA, remember? Turned out they weren’t exactly lilies but something alike but I can’t remember what.”   

“Well, it’s a good as place as any. We could check it out tomorrow I suppose. But first things first, we need to prepare in case something weird happens. It seems like this siren is very similar to the ones from the book. It didn't kill Prof Duncan right away, and then there was the whole big declaration of love thing.” Terra looked at her friend. “I think it's a safe bet to use a similar weapon that was used in the books. A dagger dipped in the blood of one of it's victims, I believe it was. The whole blood thing is really a recurrent theme in the supernatural folklore...” She continued as she shifted through the file on her computer.  “Oh shit wait, it needs to be a bronze dagger. Where the hell can we get a _bronze_ dagger?” _Fucking myths,_ she mumbled angrily.

  “Easy, I have one.” Thyra responded.  

“What? How? _Why_?”

 “Never underestimate my epic awesomeness, my dear Jim.” She responded, grinning.  “Well ok, technically it's my parents, they brought it with them from Kenya 20 years ago. But I have it in my room since I borrowed it for that costume party a few weeks ago. Remember, the Roman one? Well anyway I still have it, I'll have to check whether it's actually bronze though, I'm not sure. I can go get it?” She said as she walked to the door.

“Now is a good as time as any to go and face the music.” She sighed. “We can worry about the blood thing later. Te mortate salute!” And she walked out. It was just past dinnertime, so hopefully her roommates would have retired to their rooms. Sneak in; get the dagger, sneak back out. How hard could it be?

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

“He hit me. He actually HIT ME” Thyra was still in shock but getting angrier by the minute.  “How. Why. THE FUCK he actually HIT me. How could I not see that coming?”

She had just gotten back from getting the dagger. Everything had gone well, sneaking in was easy enough. Only when she got out of her room Philip was standing there, right in front of her door.  “We need to talk.” he said as he leaned in closer.  

“Yeah, I agree.” She had replied while trying to duck out of his advances. “But later, ok? I erm have some things I need to take care of first. Everything will be more clear after that.” She tried with a smile and she had turned around to walk to the front door.

 “No no no, you don’t get rid of me that easily.” Philip grabbed her arm. “I want to talk now.” 

“What are you doing? Let me go!” Thyra replied as she shook her arm loose. “I said No! I'm sorry for whatever you think that happened, but it most definitely will not happen again. EVER!” She firmly stated. At first it had seemed as Philip accepted this, as he turned around with hinged shoulders. She remembered feeling bad for him, but better to be a bit mean now rather than wringing it out, right?  As she turned around too, Philip had suddenly come back while shouting. “I am so done with you being a tease! You never say the things you actually mean.” And he hit her across her face. As she stumbled back, he came after her again, trying to grab her arm. In a reflex bringing her arms up, forgetting for a moment she was holding the dagger in her right hand. A superficial cut appeared on her roommates left arm, and she made use of the confusion to get out of the door.

  “Cause you’re nice and he is a douchebag?” Her friend replied.

 “He’s not a douchebag, per se. It’s probably the sirens influence. I just didn’t know it was this strong.”

“Like I said, too nice. Well at least it gave you the perfect opportunity to draw his blood.”  She looked at the stained dagger in her hands, turning it around to make sure it was covered in enough blood.   

“Draw blood? How nice of you to use the _clinical term_.” Thyra was grinning now.  “Although I would prefer badass knife fight, is about as accurate as a statement.”

  “ _Anyhow_ ,” Terra continued, “we now have a weapon to fight the Siren!”

  Fight. The word echoed between them. Suddenly they both became silent.

  “You do know that we’re technically talking murder here, right?” Thyra broke the silence.

  Her friend shrugged. “I know. But the morals are different now, don’t you think? If we add the supernatural factor. The good/bad is really skewed now. Killing it would be bad, letting it live would also be bad since people will get hurt. We can get completely philosophical about it, contemplating the value of life of different species over our own, and so on. And then we can talk about how it’s personal now, since it has impersonated you. But honestly, there is no good in this situation. There are only different kinds of bad. We both know it, we both have thought about it. Hell, we watched so many shows about it! And personally, if I were to do anything bad, I can only imagine it to be with you.”

  “I know.” Thyra looked at her friend.

“We’re talking the same thing here, aren’t we?”

  “Let’s skip the man-pain and go do the bad thing?”

  “I wanna do bad things with you, too” She smiled, got up, walked over to her friend and gave her a hug. “Let's go be bad guys! But while we’re at it, do you think we could get a blood or skin sample? It would be so cool to look at that!”  

Terra actually stared at her with open mouth, then she started laughing. “Team Mortycroft, willing to do anything in the name of science.”  

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 As soon as they reached the river, they knew they were too late.

“Where is …? Oh shit! Philip don’t!” Thyra raced to the riverbank, “Come on out, before you get a cold.” She yelled at her roommate, who didn’t even look back as he waded further into the Rhine.  

"Mmpf. Let him go, at least we’ll be rid of him for a while” Terra called after her.  

“No Jim you don’t understand! The river might look calm but it has treacherous waters underneath! He could _drown_.” She looked back to the river, Philip was fully swimming now, about a third of the way across. “Oh come back Philip, you’ve more than proven yourself for me.” She tried on a different tone.  “Come back to me darling?” Mustering all the acting talent she might have.

“Too late!” The siren grinned. “He’s all mine now.”  Both friends turned around. The Siren stood a few meters away, devilish grin on her face as she watched Philip swimming away. She no longer looked like Thyra, but had taken the form of another woman, who looked vaguely familiar.

“No!” Thyra exclaimed, turning her back again. Philip might be a total dipshit, but he doesn’t deserve to die. Although she wouldn’t mind him getting influenza for a week.  “Philip erm honey, come back! Please?” she pleaded.

“Oh you sweet summer child, don’t you know that pleading is not sexy at all?” The Siren said smoothly “Never ask for something you can command.” The creature waved her finger at her, calling softly “There is so much that I can teach you…” Suddenly a slight ringing sound was coming from somewhere.   

Thyra shook her head. “No thanks. I know I’ve got my fair share of people problems but I’m learning as I go and it turns out they aren’t all so bad” She grinned towards her friend, expecting a witty reply.   But Terra didn’t look back, instead her gaze was purely focused on the Siren, who had now turned towards her.

“Ah, but it seems that not everyone agrees with that, doesn’t it?” she said as she walked towards the shorter girl.  “The world just doesn’t seem to understand you, do they?” She whispered in Terra’s ear. “But I do. Of course I do. Everything will be so perfect when we’re together! If only you could prove you’re worth it…” a sly smile crossed her face.

  "TERRA NO!” Thyra exclaimed, “Step away from her!”  

“See?” The Siren continued, “Even _she_ can’t be trusted. She’s jealous of us…”

 “Jealous.” Terra simply nodded.  “As long as she’s here, I don’t think we’ll ever be together…” The siren sighed.   

Thyra watched in shock how her friend turned around, and started walking towards her.  “Jim?” The eyes of her friend showed little recognition, only determination.   “Jim, we’re not going to fight ok?” She said carefully. “What are you going to do? Throw me in the river?” she let out a little laugh. She might be 6 inches taller than her friend, but she was nowhere as strong. “I’m a better swimmer, remember?”   

“Ah… that gives me an idea!” The Siren said delightfully. “Since you won’t do my bidding, how about a simple rescue mission? Let’s see how well you can actually swim, enough to save your friends?” She waved her hand as Terra turned around to watch her. “Why won’t you follow Philip for a swim, sweetheart?” And she started walking towards the river.

  “Terra!” Thyra ran after her and grabbed her friend, turning her around. “Jim, please, stop this. Look at me. Look at me! We’re a team remember?” she smiled softly “team Mortycroft! Way more awesome than what she can offer you. Please?”  

“Hahahaha oh stupid girl, don’t you remember anything? Pleading is _so not sexy_!” The Siren laughed.   

“I don’t need to be sexy for her. We’re not like that. We’re something different and you might not see it, but in my opinion it is entirely better that whatever you can offer.” Thyra shouted back.   “Jim?” she said softly, returning her gaze to her friend again. “I know you feel that too. I know you know it too. Team Mortycroft against the world, remember?” Terra started blinking confused for a moment, yet suddenly she started to move towards the river again, but Thyra was prepared this time and followed immediately after her, pulling at her shoulder.

 ”Please don’t make me do this…” Thyra sighed, taking her friends face in her hands. “Jim..?” she whispered as she closed her eyes, leaning instinctively towards her. 

And then she kicked her friend in the gut, hard.

As she fell to the ground, Terra let out a sudden breath and looked up. “Myc?” she asked confused.   

“What! How!” The Siren exclaimed.   

“I told you we have something better than whatever you have to offer.” Thyra grinned relieved as she helped her friend to stand up.  

“Please tell me you didn’t use the words ' _Bro-dating'_ ” Terra grimaced. But she smiled too.

  The Siren stood up straight and smiled sweetly. “Well it seems that's my cue to leave. Bye ladies, it was fun. Your place next time?” And she walked away, vanishing in the vegetation.   

“Are you ok?” Thyra asked concerned. “I'm so sorry I punched you, I didn't know what to do!”

 “Don’t worry about it” Terra waved with her hand. “I think our friendship can handle a few kicks. Besides, it worked, didn't it? Time for phase two of the plan!”

  “Are you sure? She was more powerful than I thought! Didn't you say that a siren needs saliva from her victims?” Thyra asked confused. “Did you decide to make out with her while I wasn’t looking?” She raised her eyebrow.

  “Well have you _seen_ her?” Her friend responded wistfully.   

“ _Jim_!”

  “Ok, ok. Well we already deducted she is a different type of siren than in the books, remember? The river, the lilies... It is a work of fiction after all.” Terra grinned.

  “I _will_ kick you again.”   

“Sorry?” Terra looked up with fake puppy eyes.  “Anyway, I still think the dagger should work, it was one the few consistent things in the myths, plus a dagger through the heart usually does the trick for any living creature. And we don’t really have another plan... ”   

“Good. Ok. Let's head to the brick factory and find out, shall we?”    
  
 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  

They reached the old brick factory after a few minutes of walking alongside the river. That morning they did a little 'recon' and had found out that the building was meant to be demolished soon. A quick glance around affirmed this. Around the terrain there were pieces of wall and loose bricks lying around. Inside the building it was in even worse state. Thyra just hoped their trap would work.   Carefully they stepped inside the building and walked towards the room they had identified as the Sirens hide out that morning. On the floor in the room they had laid out the lilylike flowers in a complicated pattern. The siren however, was nowhere to be seen.

“She's not here, do you think she moved on and picked a different spot?” Terra said.  

“Mmh. I dont think so. She did seem upset she couldn’t control us. These Sirens don’t really seem like the 'letting things so' type of creatures.”

 “Yeah, I agree. The plan should still work.”

“Do you know what's so lovely about these modern times?” The siren suddenly spoke from the door. “Everyone has forgotten about the old ones. Oh sure you learn about great wars in school or have some lingering traditions. Yet folklore and fairytales are considered to be just bedtime stories. All this information available to anyone, and people have never been so ignorant. It's amazing! ” She smiled. “And of course let's not forget the carelessly demolishing of old building, forgetting its importance in earlier days. So nice of them to release me, don’t you think?”

Terra and Thyra turned around and tried to shield the flower pattern on the floor.

  “Oh don’t worry, I've seen your little flower arrangement already. So nice of you to welcome me in the neighbourhood. It's completely useless of course, although I've seen something similar being used against demon possessions.” The siren smiled as the friends look at each other with an uncertain look.  “Another thing that has changed though, is the women. Last time around they were lovely for me to feed on, but in anything else they were quite the bore...” The siren grinned. “It seems that at least you got some fighting spirit in you. Well, at least you tried...” And she lashed out.

  Thyra and Terra sprinted to the sides, to the far ends of the room.  “Oh, is it time to play games again?” The siren asked. “Well it was a lovely thought of course, but I'm afraid you were right, it is time to move on.” And she walked through the flowers towards Thyra in the left corner, grabbing her from behind. “Your friend was right, you know. I don’t like loose ends. You might be able to resist me, it does not make you invincible.” She was whispering in her ear, and did not see Terra picking something up from the floor in the corner.  “Time to say goodbye to your little friend.” She continued as she placed her hands around Thyra's neck and revealed a mouth full of fangs.  

“Do you know the problem with you self-absorbed villain types is?” Terra suddenly said standing next to the siren. “You talk way too much.” And she plunged the dagger right in the middle of the Sirens heart.

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   
Epilogue  

 

“You know, I think I might be partially siren,” Thyra broke the silence as they looked at the smoldering puddle in front of them. “Would explain a lot, wouldn’t it? Maybe the Russian greatgreatgreatgreat grandmother somewhere up my family tree…,” she continued like she was thinking thoughtfully.

 “Why? Because somehow you don’t seem to get that much affected?” Terra picked up the dagger and looked at her.

 “Actually I was thinking about the weird tendency of guys to fall in love with me, but yeah that too I suppose,” she winked.

 “Oh yeah, great catches you got. Philip sounds like a fairytale prince, you should be _prouuud_!” Terra turned around and walked towards her friend.

 “You know he's not the only one.” Thyra sighed. The light tone of the conversation was suddenly gone. (Could also have something to do with the puddle of dead human-ish person) “But yeah, it got really extreme this time I suppose. Still, I feel kinda bad for him, she continued. “He really did think I was toying with him.”

“I suppose...” Terra said. “But still he chose to ignore what you said to him directly, didn’t he? And he continued to actively pursue your attention, even after you told him “nope, not interested.” I mean, he could’ve just said, screw that; I’m not playing her game. But instead he felt entitled to your attention. Even without the sirens influence, that type of guys will find an excuse anywhere, you know?”

Thyra glared at her friend. “Jeez Jim, when did you get so wise?"

“ _Interrrrneeeet_!” Her friend responded gleefully as they walked out of the ruins.

 “You know, I really hate you sometimes.” Massive eyeroll included.

 “No you don’t.” Terra smiled back at her. “It was a good plan though, don’t you think?”

“Yup! Never underestimate the power of being underestimated. It was the right call to assume it would go after me. Although next time you play bait ok? _” S_ he grabbed painfully at her neck. “Asphyxia is definitely not a kink of mine.”

They headed back to the road. The sun was almost set and it gave the entire scenery a warm glow, completely in contrast with the somewhat dubious murder that had just occurred.

So...” Thyra grinned as they were walking back.  “When are we gonna discuss the fact that the siren chose a female form for you...?”

 

~ The End ~

  

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**Author's Note:**

> TA: Teaching assistent. Our uni upholds an 1:12 techer/studnet dynamic during practicals to optimise learning. Basically it means they hire older student cause we're cheap ;-)
> 
> In this Fic the acceptance of supernatural creatures goes quite fast. In my mind are Terra and Thyra initially just (role) playing around until they actually encounter the siren. That's what Raafling and I would've done. One time we were playing demon hunters in our student association's ghost hunt, and we memorised an entire exorcism by heart. Yes a real one, yes there is a video, no I'm not going to share it. O:)
> 
> The Siren folklore is slightly different than in the SPN verse, to make ik more like Lorely. Siren's calling is effective without the saliva, but can still be broken. Once saliva is involved it van only be broken if the Siren dies.
> 
> My real life Philip is still alive and unfortunately still a douchebag.  
> You decide whether his fic counterpart made it.
> 
> 'Riverside' is a song by Agnes Obel, check it out!  
> https://youtu.be/vjncyiuwwXQ
> 
> Xx Naiades


End file.
